Sepsis is a clinical syndrome that complicates severe infection and is characterized by systemic inflammation and widespread tissue injury and therefore represents a major cause of admission and mortality in non-coronary intensive care units (ICU). Common causes include gram-negative organisms, staphylococci, and meningococci. There are three recognized stages in the inflammatory response with progressively increased risk of end-organ failure and death: sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock. Severe sepsis is sepsis accompanied by signs of failure of at least one organ. Cardiovascular failure is typically manifested by hypotension, respiratory failure by hypoxemia, renal failure by oliguria, and hematologic failure by coagulopathy.
Accordingly methods of predicting the risk of respiratory failure, renal failure or thrombopenia in a septic patient are highly desirable.
Recent results suggest that in septic patients, endocan blood level is related to the severity of illness and the outcome of the patient and may represent a novel endothelial cell dysfunction marker (Scherpereel A, Depontieu F, Grigoriu B, Cavestri B, Tsicopoulos A, Gentina T, Jourdain M, Pugin J, Tonnel A B, Lassalle P. Endocan, a new endothelial marker in human sepsis. Crit Care Med. 2006 February; 34(2):532-7). However the role of endocan for predicting the risk of respiratory failure, renal failure or thrombopenia in a septic patient has not yet been investigated.